Trade union members and strikes

Employers' associations. Employers' Associations are understood as associations that assist their members in wage agreements and wage negotiations. Organizations that limit their activities to questions of a purely professional nature are not included in the statistics.

Trade union organizations. Nation-wide associations for wage earners that assist their members in wage agreements and wage negotiations. Organizations that limit their activities to questions of a purely professional nature are not included in the statistics. The number of members of nation-wide associations for wage earners includes all registered members and includes non-working students, pensioners etc.

Employees in the employers' associations enterprises. The number of employees in the enterprises includes all employees regardless when during the year they are employed.

Members of trade union organizations. The number of members of nation-wide associations for wage earners includes all registered members and includes non-working students, pensioners etc. at the end of the year.

Work stoppages. The statistics on labour disputes or work stoppages of at least one day's duration per year is computed from the number of trade union federations or confederations that have had groups of employees involved in a work stoppage. Strikes that are discontinued and later resumed for the same reason count as one strike unless the interruption lasts more than two months. A dispute resumed after more than two months counts as a new strike. A dispute that occurs one year and continues in the next is included in both years, i.e. it is counted as two strikes. There are two types of work stoppages, strike or lock-out. A work stoppage defines as a temporary work stoppage by a group of employees (strike) or one or several employers (lock-out) to force a demand. The following types of strikes are covered: legal strikes, illegal strikes, sympathy strikes, political or protest strikes, general strikes, work stoppages started by employees and rotating strikes. A Lockout is the employer's response to strikes. A lockout implies that workers are excluded from work until the parties have agreed on how to resolve the discrepancy.

Wage earners Numbers of wage earners who are involved in work stoppages means permanent employees, temporary employees, seasonal workers and part-time employees. A part-time employee is counted as full-time employee. Employees there are absent from work owing to illness or are on sick-leave and unpaid family members are not included in the statistics.

The duration of a conflict is measured by the number of lost working days. Taking into account that not all strikers would have been at work every day of the week during the conflict, the number of lost working days is multiplied by 5/7. This is considered to give a better estimate of lost working days, because not all strike days is counted as lost working days. Prior to 2018, this correction was not applied, and the number of assumed working days per week for the relevant group in the conflict was used to calculate lost working days, without further corrections.

Industrial classification. The industrial classification is in accordance with the revised Standard Industrial Classification (NOS D 383), which is based on the EU-standard of NACE Rev. 2. See https://www.ssb.no/en/klass/klassifikasjoner/6.

Name: Trade union members and strikes
Topic: Labour market and earnings

Division for Labour Market and Wage Statistics

National level.

Annual.

By agreement, the statistics on the number of trade union members and members in employers’ associations and work stoppages are reported to ILO.

The purpose of the statistics is to provide an overview of (1) the size of the population organized in a trade union, and (2) the number of enterprises organised in employers' associations and those bound by wage agreement and the respectiv number of employees in these enterprises. Statistics Norway have since 1977 produced annual statistics on members of employer's and trade union organizations.

With regard to work stoppages, the purpose is to provide an overview of the numbers of work stoppages, working days lost and the number of members who are involved in work stoppages. Statistics Norway have since 1922, except for the years 1940-1944, produced annually statistics of work stoppages.

Major users are research institutions and the media. By agreement, the statistics are reported to ILO.

No external users have access to the statistics and analyses before it is published and made accessible simultaneously for all users on ssb.no at 08.00 am as per the publication calendar. Prior to this, a minimum of three-month notice is given in the Statistics Release Calendar. This is one of Statistics Norway’s key principles for ensuring that All users are treated equally.

The statistics on the numbers of wage earners and employers’ associations are closely related with the statistics on work stoppages. Both are collected using one questionnaire.

None. Voluntary census.

None.

The enterprise population includes all enterprises in The Central Register of Establishments and Enterprises under the industrial groups "Activities of business employers’ organization" and "Activities of trade unions". The association population cover employers' and national associations for wage earners that assist their members in wage agreements and wage negotiations as well as the main associations to which the individual organizations belong. Organizations that limit their activities to questions of a purely professional nature are not included in the statistics.

The statistics on work stoppages cover industrial disputes, or work stoppages that are affected by employees or one or several employers. A work stoppage defines as a temporary work stoppage consciously put into action by a group of employees (strike) or one or several employers (lock-out) to force a claim.

The population is established using the industrial classification in The Central Register of Establishments and Enterprises.

The population includes a census of all organizations. Statistics Norway sends a questionnair to all employers' and labor organizations that help their members with tariff agreements and wage negotiations as well as the main associations to which individual organizations belong.

The statistcs is questionnaire based is collected on voluntary basis as per 31 December of the year the statistics applies. Questionnaires are sent some weeks before the census date in April, with the deadline for response of three weeks after the census date.

Manual checks are made to ensure consistency of the data material over time. In case of doubt about the quality of the information collected, the concerned organisations are contacted to clarify any uncertainties. In addition, the statistics is checked using information about labour conflicts that the state mediator has registered and mediated.

Due to uncertainty related to the figures on lost working days, these are rounded by industry. The rounded subtotals are summed up to a total for all industries. Figures below 100 are rounded to the nearest 5. Figures between 100 and 10 000 are rounded to the nearest 10 and figures above 10 000 are rounded to the nearest 100.

Not relevant

Not relevant

Statistical releases older than 3 April 2017

The statistics are comparable back to 1977.

The statistics are based on a census, thereby avoiding uncertainty associated with sample variance and non-response associated with sample survey.

There are still sources of errors in statistics. A possible source of error is incorrect reporting by the respondent. In this case organizations either fill in an incorrect figure for the number of members or they are even unsure of about the number of members. Employers’ associations may report man-hours instead of persons employed and they may interpret the term “member establishment” differently. Another source of uncertainty is none response, which is very rare in this case.

There could also be a register error where some organisations do not have the correct industry classification code in the Central Register of Establishments and Enterprises (VoF), and for that reason they do not get counted.

Not relevant